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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24355186">clover</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hachimitsuto/pseuds/hachimitsuto'>hachimitsuto</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>ITZY (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Growing Up Together, SKY Castle AU, Slice of Life, but without the SKY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:15:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,715</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24355186</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hachimitsuto/pseuds/hachimitsuto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Jisu thinks like this: the community where they live is like a tiny fish bowl, and the four of them are the only fish sharing the same space and therefore forced to coexist, one way or another.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Choi Jisu | Lia &amp; Hwang Hyunjin &amp; Hwang Yeji &amp; Kim Seungmin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>clover</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <span class="small">a/n: wrote this as a quick practice fic except 1) it wasn't quick 2) what did i even gain. i based this fic on sky castle's setting but without all the university + parents drama bc who wants that? not me. no one is supposed to be anyone from the drama, though. if you think this fic has a plot, think again. </span>
</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Would you guys live here when you have your own family?” Jisu asks one day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They’re having a luncheon on that day, and by them she means her family, Yeji and Hyunjin’s, Seungmin’s, and the Lee family whose son got into a university in the States last year. It’s been a tradition to host a luncheon whenever there’s a special occasion or something to celebrate. Even if there’s none, they can always make up an excuse to dress up and gather to brag about something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s what a community does best, she thinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why the sudden question?” Seungmin scoffs, raising his brows cryptically at her. They’re sitting at the smaller table together after the main course is over, and he’s sandwiched between her and Yeji.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisu shrugs. “Just wondering.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, frankly, I wouldn’t mind,” says Yeji. “I mean, it’s not like it’s a bad neighbourhood?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is that all we are, though?” Jisu can’t help asking. “Neighbours?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you want to be something more, then?” Seungmin returns, kind of laughing. The blue in his tie for some reason reminds her that summer is approaching soon. Behind them at the main table, their parents are laughing about something she couldn’t catch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They always say that it’s a kind of miracle that the four of them happen to be the same age. Hyunjin and Yeji’s family moved in when they were 9. The family who was here before them had significantly older kids, so aside from Minho who is two years older, it was just Jisu and Seungmin then.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisu makes a face at Seungmin. “That’s not what I mean.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin turns to her then, one hand holding his glass like he’s holding wine. “What about you though?” he asks. Unlike Seungmin, he’s not wearing a tie with his suit, and his hair is pushed back. It makes him look older than he actually is. Hyunjin tilts his head to the side, and returns her question. “Would you live here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes Jisu thinks like this: the community where they live is like a tiny fish bowl, and the four of them are the only fish sharing the same space and therefore forced to coexist, one way or another.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sometimes Jisu thinks that Seungmin, Hyunjin and Yeji are the closest that she can get to having childhood friends. After all, they did grow up together in the same community, even if they learned about each other’s family secrets first before they learned their favourite colours.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sometimes, she wonders if they would even be friends if they hadn’t lived here.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you seen Seungmin?” Hyunjin asks her as he pulls out the chair next to her to sit down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisu shakes her head. “He’s not home?” she asks back. She’s switched to doing her homework at the breakfast bar in the kitchen because her brain was starting to shut down on her after sitting in her room since morning. If Seungmin or anyone else came by, she would have known. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday,” she tells him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe he’s with Yeji, then. I didn’t see her either.” He shrugs, then grabs an apple on the counter. “Is that what I think it is?” he asks, pointing at her books.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It is. I suppose yours is still sitting in your bag untouched,” she says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin laughs. “Give me a break! It’s a Saturday. You’re the one studying too hard,” he comments. “You know, sometimes I get bored at home because Yeji is always studying, so I’d go out to bother you or Seungmin. But both of you would be doing the same thing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She cracks up at that. She overheard Hyunjin’s mum whine about him to her mum several times, that he’s not as serious about his studies and getting into university. But it’s not like Hyunjin is any less smart than them. He’s the kind of kid who still gets decent grades even when he doesn’t put in that much effort. Jisu used to be jealous of that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you remember,” he begins suddenly, grinning like he just recalled something funny, “when we were kids, I made a plan to run away from home and told you about it, and then you suddenly started crying?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She starts laughing again. “Wasn’t it because I thought Yeji was leaving with you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I was so hurt back then because I thought you only cared about her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a moment, the sound of their laughter fills the kitchen. Once it ebbs away, Jisu looks at Hyunjin and smiles thoughtfully. “Do you want to know a secret? I didn’t actually like Yeji back then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
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  <br/>
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</p><p>
  <span>Truthfully, Jisu had been kind of jealous of Yeji, growing up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s like this: wherever she goes, Yeji is always the center of attention. She’s the kind of person who can easily get along with everyone and brighten up the room with just her presence, and naturally does well in whatever she does. Yeji’s always been the more likable one, more approachable and a lot friendlier compared to Jisu, a smile always attached on her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But that’s not why Jisu was jealous, really</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s like this: Seungmin used to spend most of his time with Minho, and as kids, they used to have this phase where they didn’t want to play with girls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The summer she saw the moving trucks pull up in the driveway outside the house that had been empty for months, Jisu ran to her mother excitedly when she saw that one of the two kids that came out of the car was a girl. She thought that finally she didn’t have to be by herself anymore, except that the new girl and her brother made her feel more alone than anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s like this: all her life, all Jisu’s ever wanted was a sibling. What Yeji has is more than that.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
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</p><p>
  <span>On her way back from a run, Yeji finds Jisu sitting outside at the bench near the tennis court, which no one really uses, and plops down next to her. Her long hair is tied back in a ponytail which kept bouncing behind her when she made her way over.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you reading?” she asks, pulling out her earphones and leaves them dangling on her shoulders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The novel for our English class,” Jisu tells her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin would have crinkled his nose at that, she suddenly thinks. Seungmin wouldn’t even bother asking, and would ask what she thinks about it instead. But Yeji simply nods and says nothing in reply.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisu can faintly hear music coming from Yeji’s earphones, and she realized after a while that it’s the same song Hyunjin kept humming under his breath last week.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Yeji suddenly calls, lifting her gaze from where she’d been staring far into the distance. “Once we graduate from school, what happens to us?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Jisu asks back, looking at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re all going to different places, right? That means we’re not going to see each other that often anymore. What will happen, then?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” Jisu hasn’t thought about that, ironically, even when she worries about universities every day. “But we’ll still live here? We can see each other during breaks, I guess.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Yeji nods. “Yeah, you’re right.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s this: Yeji, unaware of what Jisu was feeling the entire time, told her this, once. “I wish I could be more like you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Jisu frowned. She must have said it out loud too because Yeji went on. “You’re so mature and just so… independent. You just seem so sure about yourself, and you can keep going forward without minding others. I rely so much on the people around me that I feel so useless on my own,” she said, half-laughing. “You know, back in our old house, I used to share a room with Hyunjin. After we moved here, I had a hard time sleeping on my own for a while because I felt lonely.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It didn’t make sense to Jisu then. Even when she thinks about it now, it still doesn’t make any sense that Yeji, who is so adored and admired and has everything Jisu ever wanted, just wished to be a little bit more like her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jisu,” Yeji calls again, a little more gentler now and brings Jisu back to the present time. “Do you think we would have been friends if we didn’t live here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisu closes her book, and when she turns to face Yeji, she’s already looking at her. “What do you think?” Jisu asks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s a sudden breeze lifting the wisps of loose hair that escaped Yeji’s ponytail, and some of them blow into her face as she looks at Jisu, smiling, eyes crinkling up at the corners. It makes her and Hyunjin look so alike. “I think we would,” she says.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes Jisu thinks like this: the four of them are four different fishes living in the same tiny bowl, forced to coexist.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But there’s also this:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisu hears commotions coming from her bedroom when she’s heading back from a walk one late afternoon. And when she opens the door, there are three frozen faces staring at her with widened eyes for a second before they all start to sing together, out of tune. Then, before she can even process what’s happening, they’re already shouting her name and telling her to hurry over before the candles go out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She remembers Hyunjin’s hands on her shoulders as he makes her stand in right in the center in between them, Seungmin putting on the party hat on her, and Yeji, looking at her with the biggest smile on her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Make a wish, Jisu!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisu looks at all three of them. Smiles, and closes her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>
  <span>Near the end of summer, they gather again for another luncheon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Jisu says, glancing at the rest of them. “We’re friends, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Seungmin looks up from his phone to meet her gaze and frown at her. “Did you finally lose your marbles from studying too much?” he asks, laughing a little.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisu laughs too, and so do Yeji and Hyunjin, eyes crinkled into crescents that make them look so similar to each other. She used to be envious of that, as well, but not anymore.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Hyunjin says. “For what it’s worth, I think we are.”</span>
</p>
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